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System start up - should I remove ALCMTR? (Aspire 5672)

I've been looking up all the things that run at startup on my Acer Aspire 5672, using msconfig. One of the startup items is called ALCMTR. On looking this up on lots of web sites I'm getting very confusing advice! Apparently it is an application from Realtek but some sites say it is evil spyware and should be removed immediately while others say it is harmless and should not be stopped from running unless it causes errors.

Can anyone advise on the truth of all these claims?

If it is reporting back to Realtek as some people claim then what is it reporting?

The realtek software is pretty much bloatware, you do not need it to run at startup in order for your sound, mic , etc. to work. It made me kinda mad to see I couldnt install the soun drivers without the software, but oh well. If you want to adjust settings you can either use windows sound settings. Or you can make a shortcut to the realtek program and only use it when you need it, thats what I do.

Different things work for different people. Best bet is to go through your MSConfig, make a list of all the things that run on startup and then google each one (ie, type in "qttask.exe") and see if its safe to remove, or if its something you personally would use.

For reference, here are some of the things I have removed from startup